Bing responds to court decision validating Detroit-Lansing consent agreement

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says he’s happy a “distracting” court case brought by his own city attorney was dismissed Wednesday, and the city can now follow through on its consent agreement with the state.

Bing said he was “not happy with” his corporation counsel’s decision to push the legal challenge—but insists that’s all in the past now.

“We need to get on with running the city," Bing said. "The city is still in a crisis. And we can’t have all of these distractions and think we’re going to bring the city back.”

The first steps: convening the city’s nine-member financial advisory board. That’s a key provision of the consent agreement. Bing says they’ll meet for the first time Friday.

The Detroit City Council has yet to appoint its two members to that board, but could do so Thursday.

The city will also move to draw down on the state funds that state officials had threatened to withhold and make a bond payment due this week.

But it’s still unclear whether a bond sale that had been planned for later this month—one state officials said was in jeopardy because of the court case—will go off as planned.